REGIONAL— Would you like to help monitor the water quality in one of your favorite lakes or streams here in northern St. Louis or Lake counties? Then the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency would like to hear from you.
The state agency is looking for volunteers interested in undertaking routine water clarity testing on any of several lakes and streams in the area.
With over 15,000 lakes and streams in Minnesota, and only a handful of MPCA field staff dedicated to on-site water monitoring, the state agency relies heavily on volunteers to conduct water quality monitoring. “Volunteers help fill in the gaps,” said Waverly Reibel, water monitoring program specialist with the MPCA. The MPCA has been relying on volunteers for regular water quality monitoring for more than 40 years and currently has 1,200-1,400 volunteers assisting statewide. Perhaps you could be the next volunteer.
You don’t need any experience, since the MPCA will provide you with a video explaining how to use the simple device (which they provide) used to measure water clarity, known as a Secchi disk. You will need access to a boat if you’re going to test water clarity from a lake. If you don’t have a boat, you can still conduct clarity tests on area streams, by using a bridge or some other kind of stream crossing.
The information that such readings provide is extremely valuable for state water quality managers. “Water clarity is a super important indicator of lake or stream health,” said Reibel.
That’s particularly true when the monitoring can be completed regularly, on a long-term basis, which can help to reveal changes in water quality. The MPCA issues a listing of the testing results every year and uses the findings for a variety of management decisions, including designating impaired waters.
Area lakes in need of volunteer monitors include:
 East and West Twin lakes and Blueberry Lake, all near Ely.
 Moose, Bell, and Rice lakes, all near Orr.
 Shagawa and Kawishiwi rivers and Johnson Creek, all near Ely.
 East Two River near Tower.
 Little Fork River, near Cook.
 Dunka River, near Babbitt.
“Most of these sites or lakes have not been monitored previously, so it would be great to get data for them,” said Lauren Lewandowski, a communications specialist at the MPCA.
Want to sign up?
If you’d like to volunteer to monitor water quality on any of the above-named water bodies, you can contact the MPCA’s program managers at watervolunteers.mpca@state.mn.us, or call 1-800-657-3864. You can also fill out a volunteer application online at: www.pca.state.mn.us/water/join-volunteer-water-monitoring-program.